Apparatus for producing and finishing prints



Oct. 30, 1934.- c. M. BOYCE 1,978,405

' APPARATUS r'oa'raonucmc AND FIN-ISHING PRINTS Filed June 20. 1931 Y 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 30, M. B-OYCE' 7 5 mmm ron PRODUCING nn FINISHINGPRINTS Filed June 20. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 30, 19341,918,405- APPARATUS FOR rnonuoms e FINISHING PRINTS Charles M. Boyce,Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assignor to John B. Ditmars, New York, N. Y.

Application June 1931, Serial No. 545,827 7 7 Glaims. (01. 91-55) Myinvention relates to improvements inmeans for producing prints havingaccentuated depth of tone, detail and brilliance, and more particularlyvto coating and finishing apparatus which may ba 5 co-ordinated with aprinting machine, wherebyan ink image produced upon a suitable basematerial, such as a sheet of paper, by the printing machine is alteredby successive operations to.

effectively accentuate its depth of tone,. detail 1 and brilliance, andfurther to impart surface finishes of matte,,semi-matte or gloss to theimprinted surface of the material.

Another object of this invention is to provide mechanism whereby printsof the desired character may be made upon a suitable pressyandthe...

image transferred to the paper or suitable base. which is passedcontinuously through the treating mechanisms for finishing as acontinuous operation.

These and other objects as will hereinafterappear are accomplished bythis invention, which is fully described in the followingspecification,and shown in the accompanying drawings, in

which- I Figure 1 is a side elevation of my printing and finishingmachine illustrating the relation of the 1 several mechanisms toone-another whereby continuous operation of printing, treating with afilm-forming solution, and finishing are effected;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the treating and dryingmechanism for the material as it emerges from the printing mechanism;and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the fin-.

ishing drum which receives the material from the treating and dryingmechanism shown in 'lhe printing machine indicated broadly'as' Acomprises a frame or other suitable support 1 on whicha printing andinking mechanism 2 is operatively supported. This printing mechanism 2may take the form particularly referred to in my Patent No. 1,719,796,but it will be understood that this invention is not limited to the useof the apparatus therein shown as other printing machines adapted toproduce ink imprinted images on paper sheets or other base stock may beemployed.

On the frame 1 is shown a suitable support 3 for a roll of sheetmaterial which is adapted to be fed from the roll through the mechanism.The sheet designated as E, emerging from the printing machine, is feddirectly into the finish- 'ing mechanism now to be described, where thefreshly imprinted image is treated and the im-' is printed base or sheetsurfaced and dried.

The finishing mechanism comprises a frame 5 to which is attached avdrying frame or housing 6 of sheet metal, or the like, having a surface7 over which the sheet E passes. .The surface 7 as shown is curved toprevent the edges of the 60 sheet curling up as it .dries, should ithave any such tendency. A gas burner or other heating element 8 isplaced within the sheet metal housing 6, and the .heating of the framemay be controlled by any suitable means such as for instance the valveX.

,1; :The frame 5 carries a suitably heated pan 9 in which a film-formingsolution is maintained at a desired temperature, and which is to beapplied to .the imprinted face of the sheet E to affect 7 theappearance. of the image and produce the desired surface finish as willlater be described. Solutions particularly adapted for this purpose aredescribed. and claimed in my PatentNo.

7 The sheet E which has been imprinted during its travel through theprinting machine is passed up under the roller .10, over the roller 11,and

.down under an adjustable roller 12, which submerges the entire width ofthe sheet in the solutionin .the pan 9. For this purpose the roller 12may be considerably narrower than the width of the sheet E, and thesolution, due to capillary attraction, will permit the sheet to besubmerged some distance beneath its surface without overflowing upon theback thereof.

As the treated imprinted sheet E with its surfacefilm emerges from thepan 9, it passes up over the roller 13 and slides around the back 7 ofthe drier G emerging at the bottom as a dried 9o -or partially driedsheet E which passes over a series'of rollers and eventually reaches thefinishing drum J, shown in Figs. 1 and 3. This drum is mounted upon aframe 14, and is driven, preflerably by means of worms and worm wheelswithin the housings 15 and 16. The worm shaft 17 connectswith a motor orother suitable source of power (not shown). It is obvious that themechanisms Just described should be operated at a speed corresponding tothat of the printing machine with which such mechanisms arecoordinated.- Ordinarily such printing machines, as are referred toherein, are run at a constant speed. To'reach the drum J, the treatedand dried sheet E passes under the roller 18, thence 1 5 up over theroller 19, and down under spaced rollers 20 and 21. As the sheet passesunder the latter rollers'from one to the other, its coated surface, butpreferably not the base to which the coating is applied, is brought intocontact with 110.

alcohol and water, or some other suitable treating medium, whichconditions the coated surface for finishing on the drum. This result maybe brought about by utilizing rollers somewhat less in length than thewidth of the sheet, so that the treating solution, because of capillaryattraction, will affect only the coated surface of the sheet andnot thereverse side thereof.

As the sheet emerges from the bath of the treating medium H it passes upover the roller 22, and over the roller 23 which forces the treatedsurface of the coating into an intimate or optical contact with thecylindrical surface of the finishing drum J. The speed of sheet travel,plus the distance between the two rollers 20 and 21, is

intimate contact with the highly polished surface, whereby a high glossfinish is imparted to the coated surface of the base.

2. A machine for coating 9. base with a glossed transparent coatingcomprising means for applying a liquid coating substance to the surfaceof the base in the form of a thin uniform film, means for drying thecoating on the surface of the base, and means for glossing the filmonthe base including a rotatably mounted cylinder having a highly polishedsurface and a pressure roller cooperating therewith for forciblypressing the coated surface into intimate contact with the surface ofthe cylinder, whereby a high gloss finish is imparted to the coatedsurface of the such that the liquid in the bath H may permeate base thefilm on the sheet sufilciently to render it susceptible to a. high glossafter being brought intc contact with the polished surface of the drumJ. In this operation the roller 23 acts as a squeegee roller to forcethe treated surface into optical contact with the polished surface ofthe drum, the coating being thereby evened over its base and glossed toa high degree.

For some purposes it is desired to provide the sheet with a backing ofcloth, or the like. Such a backing of gummed cloth K may be provided bytaking it from the roll of cloth 2i and passing it up over the roller25,down under the roller 26 which dips the cloth into a bath of liquid 2'7,thence up over the roller 28 which forces it firmly against the back ofthe sheet. The rollers 23 and 28 are provided'with adjusting meanswhereby the pressure applied thereon may be varied to suit conditions.

The finishing drum J revolves in a clockwise direction and the coatingof the sheet E which has been previously treated to make intimatecontact with the surface of the drum, has time to thoroughly dry insmoothed out condition by the time the drum revolves to carry the sheetbeneath the stripping roller 29. This roller 29 leads the sheet off theface of the drum, after which the finished dried sheet E passes up overthe roller 30, and out between the rollers 31 and 32. From here thesheet passes on to a trimmer, or the like.

On this highly specialized type of printing and finishing machine theimprinted sheet or sheets may be fed directly from the printing meansinto the treating means where the imprinted image thereon is treated.Assuming that the imprinted image is as complete as it is possible toproduce from a printing plate, it may nevertheless be further enhancedas to depth of tone, detail and brilliance. By treating the imprintedimage as herein described the image is materially altered in appearanceas the darker portions take on an added depth of tone and solidity andthe high lights are brightened, increasing detail with depth of tone,and added brilliance comparable only with a true photograph, regardlessof the kind of surface finish produced by the process which is morefully described and claimed in my Patent No. 1,725,699, August 20, 1929.

I claim:

1. A machine for coating a base with a glossed transparent coatingcomprising means for applying a liquid coating substance to the surfaceof the base in the form of a thin uniform film, means for drying thecoating on the surface of the base, and means for glossing the film onthe base including a highly polished surface and means for forciblypressing the coated surface into 3. A machine for coating a base with aglossed transparent coating comprising means for applying a liquidcoating substance to the surface of the base in the form of athinuniform film, means for drying the coating on the surface of the base,and means for glossing the film on the base including a rotatablymounted cylinder having a smooth polished surface, means for rotatingthe cylinder, means for feeding the coated base on to the cylinder,means for wetting the coated surface before it contacts with thecylinder, and a pressure roller cooperating with the cylinder forforcibly pressing the coated surface into contact with the surface ofthe cylinder.

4. A machine for coating a base with a glossed transparent coatingcomprising means for applying a liquid coating substance to the surfaceof the base in the form of a thin uniform film, means for coagulatingthe coating on the surface of the base, and means for glossing the filmon the base including a rotatably mounted cylinder having a smoothpolished surface, means for heating the surface of the cylinder, feedingmeans for feeding the base on to the cylinder with the coated surface incontact with the surface of the cylinder, means for wetting the coatedsurface before it contacts with the cylinder, and a pressure rollercooperating with the cylinder for forcibly pressing the coated surfaceinto contact with the surface of the cylinder.

5. A machine for coating a flexible base with a transparent coatingcomprising means for applying a liquid coating to the surface of thebase in the form of a thin uniform film, means for partially removingthe liquid content from the film on the surface of the base, and meansfor glossing the partially dried film on the base including a rotatablymounted drying cylinder having ahighly polished surface, means forforcibly, pressing the coated surface of the base into intimate contactwith the surface of the cylinder, means for maintaining the base withits coated surface in contact with a substantial portion of theperiphery of the cylinder, and means for subsequently removing the basefrom the cylinder.

6. A machine for coating a flexible base with a transparent coatingcomprising means for applying a liquid coating to the surface of thebase in the form of a thin uniform film, means for partially removingthe liquid content from the film on the surface of the base, and meansfor glossing the partially dried film on the base including a rotatablymounted cylinder having a highly polished surface, means for heating thecylinder, and means for forcibly pressing the coated surface intointimate contact with the surface of the cylinder to cause the coatedsurface to adhere to the surface of the cylinder during a partialrotation of the cylinder, whereby a highgloesisimnartedtothecoatedsurface base ofthe on the surface of the thepartialiydried base, andmeans for glossing film on the base including a ished surface,

. '3 rotatably mm cylinder mm a highly p01;

means for forcibly pressing the coated surface into intimate contactwith the surface of the cylinder. and means positioned about thecylinder and spaced from saidpressing means for 8111 the cylinder.

ding the base from the surface of CHARLES H. BOYCE?

